What I like is the number of suggestions to "just install Linux", as if Linux needs less configuration than the above. I think people who make that suggestion are ignorant, biased, or would always recommend Linux simply because it's their preference.
For most people, this works out of the box with much less trouble. Case in point, I was given a Windows 8 Netbook as a gift. It took me 5 hours and a Google search to figure out how to connect it to my 2 networked legacy printers. I have an HP 950C and an HP Laserjet III on single port Trendnet printservers. It is not intuitive to find printer drivers from Windows Update Manager. After hours of spinning wheels, I found out on Google. Another hour or two was required to properly port ot the net printservers.
A fresh Linux Mint install on the other hand had the job completed in under 20 minutes. Printers existed in the CUPS database. It was also intuitive in the interface to add the two Network Printer ports.
Many of the suggestions to Just Install Linux are based on personal experiance, mine included.
After reading yesterday's articles, I still use the hardware, but use aftermarket firmware such as DD-SRT or Tomato. No reason to trust firmware without source code anymore.
Windows is counted as machines are sold. Linux is often uncounted. I know more people personally using Ubuntu or Mint than are using Windows 8. If you count me personally, I have several dual boot machines, but rarely boot into Windows XP or 7.
With a 3K connection, I would go back to dial up in a heartbeat. I went from Dial up to cable at 2 meg, to DSL at 6 meg. So far DSL has not been tampered with. If they don't tamper with the level of service, I'm happy. Due to Comcast throtteling of Torrents, and other issues, as soon as a viable option opened, I was gone and unlikely to consider them in the future, even though they "promise 12 Meg" connecitons. As the article suggests, a 12 - 30 meg connection is useless if Netflix and Youtube is delivered (Throttled) at well below 1 Meg speed. I'll take a working 6 meg connection over that crap.
This is one of the reasons I dropped Comcast. As soon as an alternative was an option, I switched. Dropped my price about $10 per month (beyone the promotoion rate) and increased by BW by 3X. Now Comcast wants me back offering "faster than DSL" Xfinity brand service.
I tell them every time that they blew their chance at retention. The answer is good competition. Market forces will kill companies that provide poor service. This does not work where there is a monopoly market.
Now a 3rd option is in my area. Haven't noticed any throtteling on Netflix or Youtube. Even a test torrent worked just fine. Until Quest screws up, I'll stick around. I even have 3 VOIP lines with other providers that show no sign of throtteling. 2 lines are on an ATA (Linksys PAP2T-NA) and the third is a softphone Google Talk/Voice.
Always avoid the companies with a media divison to protect. Remember the Sony Diskman. Too DRM Serial copy protected to be of any real studio use. Hard disk recorders and Digital Audio Workstations simply took the market. Cable companies will find a void they created will be filled by the competition.
Verizon does have something to fear. There may be lawsuits when upstream congestion causes 3rd party content to be delivered slower than their own content not due to throtteling on their part. This law can only cause them headaches even if they don't throttle.
It helps to provide real examples of why a single sign on is not wanted.
For me, I don't want the NSA using my compromised info to log into any of my other accounts. A break one breaks all policy is an Identity Theif's goldmine. Google +, Facebook, Bank of America, Bank of Nova Scotia, E-Trade, Ebay, Amazon..... There is a reason not all my eggs are in one basket.
A boot sector virus is believeable. Cross contamination my portable media with zero write protection has been an exploitable bug in the system.
In the old days of floppies, my service disks were write protected. In the days of CD's they were write protected by default. Since CF cards and beyond, Write protection is off by default and most often missing entirely.
Service software is now held on CD ROM on a USB drive. Anyone using writable software to service machines is a fool.
The author admits to using non write protected media to "Flash" his BIOS.
He needs to pratice safe computing in an infected environment if he is to get any chance of recovery. A known clean machine with known clean write protectable media such as a burned CD or DVD is the only way to clean up an infected machine with BIOS, Boot Sector, or other nasty infection.
Does the author know about write protected media and computer service to prevent spreading infections?
It would be legal for the government to ask for copies ov individual John Doe, or even a pen recorder on that account with proper court order. Asking for keys of the sysadmin is in violation of all user's 4th ammendment rights.
In a millitary transfer, I took my own 18 inch mechanics toolbox on board and in the screening line,discovered I forgot to take out a carpet knife. I pointed it out to the screener and told him I forgot to remove it, I would replace it at my destination. The screener said that they were more worried about screwdriver and didn't take it. I promised to leave the toolbox on the floor under the seat and not take the plane apart in flight. Things have changed alot since 9/11.
Back then, they were watching for flamable liquids, fireworks, drugs, guns, or excessive amounts of cash.
The comment is only half the storry. The other half is related to yield. Take for example a 12 inch wafer and make chips 3 inches square. You get at most 4 chips. Smaller chips = more die.
Now the defect density part of the formula. Say you have 100 defects randomly spread on the wafer. Your yield of 3 inch chips would be zero for most of your manufacturing. Dice the wafer into 500 chips by having smaller die size and now your yield is 4 of 5 die or better is your yield as sometimes randomly scattered defects will be on one die so on that wafer you have fewer dead die.
Defect denisty is measured in defects per square cm. Lowering total defect count is important in smaller die as smaller defects result in dead die, so a product shrink = higher defect density. Reducing defect density = higher yield. Reducing die size = higher yield, lower power, lower cost, and faster. Lower cost, faster chips that run long times on small batteries is a requirement to make chips for tablets and phones.
The fight to limit spending is a fight for the economy. I'll leave the research to those really interested. Current deficit is about 17.5 trillion. Do you know how much it was in 1980, 1990, 2000? Do you know what it was when Obama took office? Do you know how much of the GDP is just spent on servicing the debt?
Quick personal finance question.
If your interest payments were over 60% of your income before taxes, and you still had taxes, insurance payments, water bills, and other obligations, would you consider yourself a AAA credit risk? Would it make sense to continue to borrow to give charitable donations to your favorite cause?
Would it make sence to trim your spending to borrow less?
The great divide in the parties is No problem, borrow money and don't be late on payments for a fantastic credit score vs we need to curtail our spending as this is not sustainable as it will trigger hyper-inflation with plenty of examples of those who did this before.
Can we afford ACA?
If the middle class can't afford it, how can the poor?
If you have a choice between housing and insurance, which will you drop? Between food and insurance? Heat in the winter and Insurance.. Oh snap, insurance is now mandentory. Ok do you drop housing, food, heat, transportation?
Early reports of those trying to renew insurance or get into exchanges are finding rates near double or more of the previous rates. Guess that is the cost of adding pre-existing conditions to the covered. I expect this to be the new norm with a whole batch of subsidies that anyone earning a living will be unelegible for.
To keep health coverage.. lose the job and apply for assistance. The only casualty is the economy.
For the record. Here it is the evening just before the debt limit is crashed.
"Weeks of bitter political fighting gave way to a frenzied night in Washington as Congress passed the bill that would prevent the country from crashing into the debt ceiling."
Just as predectid, no deal before the last minutes. We get to repeat this in January or Febuary. Oh joy.
Knowing the game and what quarter we currenty in will provide insight on the future required moves.
We are currently in the game of choosing sides. The deadline is the 18th or 17th. We have until then to divide the public into credit is income, and we spent too much already and we can't afford another entitlement. Because the public knows so little about the borrowing of money by the government (payments need to be made.. no problem just borrow more to make the payments until our entire income goes to makeing payments with no other payments being made. Someday that train will wreck. Oh, back on topic.. The game plan,
The other side's plan is shutting down the government. You public need to get educated and join our side or the conquences will be dire. This posturing will run until default at the earliest, maybe later. This is a race to place more canidates of party X or Y in the house and senate at the next election. Nobody can agree on anything until then.
I'll check for updates on the 19th. Wake me up then.
In the meantime, the play by play is a news reporters dream. 2 solid weeks of political drama.
Actually, they should outright reject it as it is Microsoft's policy to not permit dual boot PC's to be sold. Until I can go into Best Buy and pick up a Windows7/Linux Mint machine, the phone industry should adopt Microsoft's own policy of Single OS only. They should understand this policy well. They created it and enforced it heavily with legal action. Remember the DOS alternatives and attempts at giving the customer a choice? Windows as a second OS? are you crazy for even suggesting it?
Do you trust your exit node or proxy? Defcon had a recent talk on setting up proxy servers as a very quick way to find people who have something to hide. Now you have their IP address and their destination. Tor works only as long as exit nodes are not in the bad guy's control.
The phrase Tor works only as long as exit nodes are not in the bad guy's hands applies to NSA searcing for bad guys, and good guys hiding from the NSA.
Who has your exit node.
It is worth looking up and watching the following on Youtube. DEF CON 20: Owning Bad Guys And Mafia With Javascript Botnets
There was a lawsuit related to the collusion after the epoxy fire. Some of the manufactures may remember that and avoid collusion this time arround, but look instead to fill the void in a competitive fashion since Windows 8 has not been selling well. Intel chips are selling slower, so memory to support them are in lower amouts too. Anyone with surplus inventory can make a mess of attempted collusion by selling surplus capacity and inventory. Raise prices at your own risk. Some price pressure may show, but I don't expect any shortages soon. There are many manufactures in the memory market.
We have a no porn policy posted at work as part of the hostile work environment compliance. We have a corporate filter with a splash page providing warnings. Policy does acknowledge the occasional mis-directed web page, bad search result, ads for adult content or products. Even Slashdot provided some warning pages due to some troll links that are NSFW.
Even though I have never searched for Adult content at work, I get the splash several times a week. Sometimes several ads on an otherwise normal page have shrunken warning splash screens so based on counts alone, normal web activity including surfing Slashdot is good for several hits to several 10's of hits on a Adult or other restricted site link. Hacking is the other big reason I see the warning page, but the description given for the reason the site is blocked is for hacking. When I follow info following Defcon talks often provides prohibited advertisements or articles or "Hacking" websites.
If you are not on a corporate filter/proxy, then you may not realise how easy it is to add to these counters without even trying.
Apple has run a Walled garden protected by patents for a long time. Maybe it is time for them to simply switch to an open standard supported by many parties such as SIP. If apple adopted open standards, they could interface with Jitsi users, Linksys/Supra users, Grandstream users, Asterisk PBX users, etc.
The reason they don't do this is because you are not locked to a carrier and can use ViaTalk, Ekiga, IPPI,Ring Central, or other providers. Same reason they don't offer unlocked phones.
Slashdot Mirror
For most people, this works out of the box with much less trouble. Case in point, I was given a Windows 8 Netbook as a gift. It took me 5 hours and a Google search to figure out how to connect it to my 2 networked legacy printers. I have an HP 950C and an HP Laserjet III on single port Trendnet printservers. It is not intuitive to find printer drivers from Windows Update Manager. After hours of spinning wheels, I found out on Google. Another hour or two was required to properly port ot the net printservers.
A fresh Linux Mint install on the other hand had the job completed in under 20 minutes. Printers existed in the CUPS database. It was also intuitive in the interface to add the two Network Printer ports.
Many of the suggestions to Just Install Linux are based on personal experiance, mine included.
After reading yesterday's articles, I still use the hardware, but use aftermarket firmware such as DD-SRT or Tomato. No reason to trust firmware without source code anymore.
Windows is counted as machines are sold. Linux is often uncounted. I know more people personally using Ubuntu or Mint than are using Windows 8. If you count me personally, I have several dual boot machines, but rarely boot into Windows XP or 7.
Change title from earns to extorts. It is ransomware.
With a 3K connection, I would go back to dial up in a heartbeat. I went from Dial up to cable at 2 meg, to DSL at 6 meg. So far DSL has not been tampered with. If they don't tamper with the level of service, I'm happy. Due to Comcast throtteling of Torrents, and other issues, as soon as a viable option opened, I was gone and unlikely to consider them in the future, even though they "promise 12 Meg" connecitons. As the article suggests, a 12 - 30 meg connection is useless if Netflix and Youtube is delivered (Throttled) at well below 1 Meg speed. I'll take a working 6 meg connection over that crap.
This is one of the reasons I dropped Comcast. As soon as an alternative was an option, I switched. Dropped my price about $10 per month (beyone the promotoion rate) and increased by BW by 3X. Now Comcast wants me back offering "faster than DSL" Xfinity brand service.
I tell them every time that they blew their chance at retention. The answer is good competition. Market forces will kill companies that provide poor service. This does not work where there is a monopoly market.
Now a 3rd option is in my area. Haven't noticed any throtteling on Netflix or Youtube. Even a test torrent worked just fine. Until Quest screws up, I'll stick around. I even have 3 VOIP lines with other providers that show no sign of throtteling. 2 lines are on an ATA (Linksys PAP2T-NA) and the third is a softphone Google Talk/Voice.
Always avoid the companies with a media divison to protect. Remember the Sony Diskman. Too DRM Serial copy protected to be of any real studio use. Hard disk recorders and Digital Audio Workstations simply took the market. Cable companies will find a void they created will be filled by the competition.
Verizon does have something to fear. There may be lawsuits when upstream congestion causes 3rd party content to be delivered slower than their own content not due to throtteling on their part. This law can only cause them headaches even if they don't throttle.
It helps to provide real examples of why a single sign on is not wanted.
For me, I don't want the NSA using my compromised info to log into any of my other accounts. A break one breaks all policy is an Identity Theif's goldmine. Google +, Facebook, Bank of America, Bank of Nova Scotia, E-Trade, Ebay, Amazon..... There is a reason not all my eggs are in one basket.
A boot sector virus is believeable. Cross contamination my portable media with zero write protection has been an exploitable bug in the system.
In the old days of floppies, my service disks were write protected. In the days of CD's they were write protected by default. Since CF cards and beyond, Write protection is off by default and most often missing entirely.
Service software is now held on CD ROM on a USB drive. Anyone using writable software to service machines is a fool.
The author admits to using non write protected media to "Flash" his BIOS.
He needs to pratice safe computing in an infected environment if he is to get any chance of recovery. A known clean machine with known clean write protectable media such as a burned CD or DVD is the only way to clean up an infected machine with BIOS, Boot Sector, or other nasty infection.
Does the author know about write protected media and computer service to prevent spreading infections?
It would be legal for the government to ask for copies ov individual John Doe, or even a pen recorder on that account with proper court order. Asking for keys of the sysadmin is in violation of all user's 4th ammendment rights.
This is common in many locations. Public access, free copper.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o538/shrink14/null-1.jpg
Do you get alerts when the charging station is vandelized by copper thiefs. The charging station condition is a cause of anxiety for me.
In a millitary transfer, I took my own 18 inch mechanics toolbox on board and in the screening line,discovered I forgot to take out a carpet knife. I pointed it out to the screener and told him I forgot to remove it, I would replace it at my destination. The screener said that they were more worried about screwdriver and didn't take it. I promised to leave the toolbox on the floor under the seat and not take the plane apart in flight. Things have changed alot since 9/11.
Back then, they were watching for flamable liquids, fireworks, drugs, guns, or excessive amounts of cash.
The comment is only half the storry. The other half is related to yield. Take for example a 12 inch wafer and make chips 3 inches square. You get at most 4 chips. Smaller chips = more die.
Now the defect density part of the formula. Say you have 100 defects randomly spread on the wafer. Your yield of 3 inch chips would be zero for most of your manufacturing. Dice the wafer into 500 chips by having smaller die size and now your yield is 4 of 5 die or better is your yield as sometimes randomly scattered defects will be on one die so on that wafer you have fewer dead die.
Defect denisty is measured in defects per square cm. Lowering total defect count is important in smaller die as smaller defects result in dead die, so a product shrink = higher defect density. Reducing defect density = higher yield. Reducing die size = higher yield, lower power, lower cost, and faster. Lower cost, faster chips that run long times on small batteries is a requirement to make chips for tablets and phones.
The fight to limit spending is a fight for the economy. I'll leave the research to those really interested. Current deficit is about 17.5 trillion. Do you know how much it was in 1980, 1990, 2000? Do you know what it was when Obama took office? Do you know how much of the GDP is just spent on servicing the debt?
Quick personal finance question.
If your interest payments were over 60% of your income before taxes, and you still had taxes, insurance payments, water bills, and other obligations, would you consider yourself a AAA credit risk? Would it make sense to continue to borrow to give charitable donations to your favorite cause?
Would it make sence to trim your spending to borrow less?
The great divide in the parties is No problem, borrow money and don't be late on payments for a fantastic credit score vs we need to curtail our spending as this is not sustainable as it will trigger hyper-inflation with plenty of examples of those who did this before.
Can we afford ACA?
If the middle class can't afford it, how can the poor?
If you have a choice between housing and insurance, which will you drop? Between food and insurance? Heat in the winter and Insurance.. Oh snap, insurance is now mandentory. Ok do you drop housing, food, heat, transportation?
Welcom to the welfare state. You voted for it.
Early reports of those trying to renew insurance or get into exchanges are finding rates near double or more of the previous rates. Guess that is the cost of adding pre-existing conditions to the covered. I expect this to be the new norm with a whole batch of subsidies that anyone earning a living will be unelegible for.
To keep health coverage.. lose the job and apply for assistance. The only casualty is the economy.
For the record. Here it is the evening just before the debt limit is crashed.
"Weeks of bitter political fighting gave way to a frenzied night in Washington as Congress passed the bill that would prevent the country from crashing into the debt ceiling."
Just as predectid, no deal before the last minutes. We get to repeat this in January or Febuary. Oh joy.
My favorite answer.. "No, But most of the time she beats me at carribbage."
Time to watermark all your photos with Copyright 2013 on them.
Knowing the game and what quarter we currenty in will provide insight on the future required moves.
We are currently in the game of choosing sides. The deadline is the 18th or 17th. We have until then to divide the public into credit is income, and we spent too much already and we can't afford another entitlement. Because the public knows so little about the borrowing of money by the government (payments need to be made.. no problem just borrow more to make the payments until our entire income goes to makeing payments with no other payments being made. Someday that train will wreck. Oh, back on topic.. The game plan,
The other side's plan is shutting down the government. You public need to get educated and join our side or the conquences will be dire. This posturing will run until default at the earliest, maybe later. This is a race to place more canidates of party X or Y in the house and senate at the next election. Nobody can agree on anything until then.
I'll check for updates on the 19th. Wake me up then.
In the meantime, the play by play is a news reporters dream. 2 solid weeks of political drama.
Actually, they should outright reject it as it is Microsoft's policy to not permit dual boot PC's to be sold. Until I can go into Best Buy and pick up a Windows7/Linux Mint machine, the phone industry should adopt Microsoft's own policy of Single OS only. They should understand this policy well. They created it and enforced it heavily with legal action. Remember the DOS alternatives and attempts at giving the customer a choice? Windows as a second OS? are you crazy for even suggesting it?
Is your wind power reliable? Much of the wind generation in the US won't operate when the grid is down.
Locally, I have two backup options, solar, and gas generator.
Is your critical system backed up?
Do you trust your exit node or proxy? Defcon had a recent talk on setting up proxy servers as a very quick way to find people who have something to hide. Now you have their IP address and their destination. Tor works only as long as exit nodes are not in the bad guy's control.
The phrase Tor works only as long as exit nodes are not in the bad guy's hands applies to NSA searcing for bad guys, and good guys hiding from the NSA.
Who has your exit node.
It is worth looking up and watching the following on Youtube.
DEF CON 20: Owning Bad Guys And Mafia With Javascript Botnets
There was a lawsuit related to the collusion after the epoxy fire. Some of the manufactures may remember that and avoid collusion this time arround, but look instead to fill the void in a competitive fashion since Windows 8 has not been selling well. Intel chips are selling slower, so memory to support them are in lower amouts too. Anyone with surplus inventory can make a mess of attempted collusion by selling surplus capacity and inventory. Raise prices at your own risk. Some price pressure may show, but I don't expect any shortages soon. There are many manufactures in the memory market.
We have a no porn policy posted at work as part of the hostile work environment compliance. We have a corporate filter with a splash page providing warnings. Policy does acknowledge the occasional mis-directed web page, bad search result, ads for adult content or products. Even Slashdot provided some warning pages due to some troll links that are NSFW.
Even though I have never searched for Adult content at work, I get the splash several times a week. Sometimes several ads on an otherwise normal page have shrunken warning splash screens so based on counts alone, normal web activity including surfing Slashdot is good for several hits to several 10's of hits on a Adult or other restricted site link. Hacking is the other big reason I see the warning page, but the description given for the reason the site is blocked is for hacking. When I follow info following Defcon talks often provides prohibited advertisements or articles or "Hacking" websites.
If you are not on a corporate filter/proxy, then you may not realise how easy it is to add to these counters without even trying.
Apple has run a Walled garden protected by patents for a long time. Maybe it is time for them to simply switch to an open standard supported by many parties such as SIP. If apple adopted open standards, they could interface with Jitsi users, Linksys/Supra users, Grandstream users, Asterisk PBX users, etc.
The reason they don't do this is because you are not locked to a carrier and can use ViaTalk, Ekiga, IPPI,Ring Central, or other providers. Same reason they don't offer unlocked phones.